Ice bridge declared unsafe

Wednesday

Mar 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Despite several recent weeks of numbing cold, the natural ice bridge between the Cheboygan mainland and Bois Blanc Island has been declared unsafe due to open water in the South Channel of the Straits of Mackinac.

By MIKE FORNESmike@cheboygantribune.com

Despite several recent weeks of numbing cold, the natural ice bridge between the Cheboygan mainland and Bois Blanc Island has been declared unsafe due to open water in the South Channel of the Straits of Mackinac.“We had a crossing for a little over one month,” said Mike White Sr., who led a band of islanders in setting a tree line to mark the way for the snowmobile route about a month ago. “The open water invaded from the east in a long narrow band. This happened last week.”According to White, an unusual direction was taken this year that began near Point Nipigon — well west of the usual departure point near Pries Landing. Even so, warming temperatures produced the inevitable.“The advance point of open water is just west of Point Nipigon,” White said. “The tree line was arc’d west and had a boomerang shape to it. Right in that farthest west arc, in the center of the South Channel, that is where the water went through the tree line. People were using the line a lot and one builder over here was hauling building materials across.”There was no ice bridge last year. White says there is a definite change in local climate that is evident in the ice on the Straits.“It is a pretty sad thing the way the cold will not stay consistent like it used to,” he remarked. “All the old timers remember when year after year you could depend on a solid ice bridge from right around mid-January to late March. The ice this year was half the thickness of the way it was 30 or 40 years back. Global warming come to mind? It just can’t be depended on like it used to be.”White came to the mainland last weekend and said that while some aspects of Bois Blanc life remain the same, other improvements are being made. “The only things open on Bois Blanc are the school and the post office,” White continued “There are maybe 40 or 50 people here. The airport is a very nice thing; it is now paved and lit. There is also a nice heated terminal building too. The biggest thing happening here is that the approaches on each end are being expanded right now by cutting down tons of trees. So, it is not like we are isolated here.”The U.S. Coast Guard is expected to declare the South Channel open to navigation sometime this month and the Plaunt ferry usually resumes service to the island in April when harbor ice is gone.